The primary purpose of this study is to better understand the worldviews, defined as a roadmap for action, of people who challenge books in American public institutions. Through the analysis of common themes within the discourse of censorship, the study delineated some of the contours of challengers’ worldviews. Next, the study explored challengers’ construction of the role of public institutions in society as well as how they understood the policies and procedures used in challenge cases. Finally, the study explored challengers’ construction of the practice of reading by identifying challengers’ construction of the book as a symbolic object, their interpretive strategies and reading practices as well as how these strategies shape challengers’ behavior. The study focused on 13 challenge cases in American public libraries and schools that took place between 2007 and 2011. Three sources of discourse were used in the study. The first consisted of documents, obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests to governing bodies, produced in the course of challenge cases. Recordings of book challenge public hearings constituted the second source of data. Finally, the third source of data was interviews with challengers. There were several shared themes in challengers’ discourse regarding objectionable materials in public institutions. First, with regard to social structures, challengers were concerned with reversing what they view as the moral decline of American society, parenting as a boundary setting role, and preserving the innocence of children. Next, challengers conceptualized public institutions as safe spaces for children and, according to their worldview; this is partially accomplished through careful selection of materials that children will encounter. If objectionable material is found in the institution, it is no longer considered to be a safe space and must be ritually cleansed by the relocation or removal of the material. Finally, challengers demonstrated a reverence for the books as a material, symbolic object. Challengers’ interpretive strategies with regard to the practice of reading focused on mimetic imagination, common sense interpretation of the text, and short- and long-term effects of reading.
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Communication, Information and Library Studies
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Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
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Author Agreement License
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